CONSTRUCTION IN A DEMANDING CLIMATE
Passive design principles a feature at Hillside Clinic
A clinic in South Africa’s Western Cape in an arid climactic zone that serves a local population battling for financial survival has been built with an emphasis on balancing reduced energy consumption with acceptable indoor temperatures. Equally important in creating the new healthcare facility, explain public sector architect, Ulrike Kuschke, mechanical engineer, Yusuf Jacob, and architectural technologist, Jehan Bikoo, were a reduced carbon footprint during construction, the creation of local employment opportunities, and developing local skills.
The Hillside Clinic, completed in 2017, is located in the town of Beaufort West, approximately six hours’ drive from Cape Town. The Western Cape Department of Transport and Public Works (DTPW) and provincial Department of Health, with a consultant team of architects, engineers, and quantity surveyors, developed the 1045 m2
project with an emphasis on reduced energy consumption, while ensuring that the statutory requirements for ventilation rates and acceptable indoor temperature were achieved. Further imperatives were a reduced carbon footprint during construction, creating local employment, and skills development.
Context Climate: Beaufort West is situated in an arid climatic zone, with large diurnal and seasonal temperature swings. It falls within the Koppen-Geiger climatic classification BWk – Arid Desert Cold. It is anticipated that the extent of land area that falls within this climate classification may increase by 16% if climate change causes a mean global temperature rise of 2˚C. This project therefore presents a useful opportunity for investigating energy- saving technologies appropriate for a climate type whose footprint is likely to increase.
Location: Beaufort West is the largest town in the Great Karoo region, with a population of 53,000, and an anticipated growth rate of 1% per annum. It was formerly an important railway marshalling yard, and remains the centre of a mainly sheep farming agricultural district. Patient profile: This clinic serves the currently uninsured, low-income
This article, entitled ‘Searching for sustainability’, first appeared in the IFHE Digest 2020. HEJ would like to thank the Federation, and the article’s authors, for allowing its reproduction in this issue of the IHEEM journal.
View across the park towards the entrance of the Hillside Clinic.
population. According to the 2017 Western Cape Socio-Economic Profile for Beaufort West, the three largest socio- economic risks are drought, a lack of financial sustainability (dependency on social grants), and stagnating economic growth. Life for many people can be characterised as a battle for financial survival in an area with few opportunities. In addition, South Africa has the highest number of tuberculosis (TB) deaths in the world (5% of the global burden of this disease).
Social sustainability: The Green Building Council of South Africa (GBCSA) Green Star SA rating system is modelled
on the Australian system, and has been customised for the local context, with the noteworthy additional Socio-Economic Category certification option. Although DTPW seldom registers projects for GBCSA rating, there is potential value in applying for independent verification of the positive socio-economic impact of targeted infrastructure development such as that of the Hillside Clinic.
All public projects target labour- intensive approaches, local employment, skills development for labourers, and targeted procurement of goods and services. (At present, South Africa does
SUMMER SUN AT 12 PM
84˚ Ventilation stack
WINTER SUN AT 12 PM
38˚ Concrete ring beam
Inward opening hopper window Rammed earth wall Plastered brick plinth
Consultation
Corridor waiting
Deep overhang
Rock store Plenum Diagrammatic section. May 2020 Health Estate Journal 29
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